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Ashen Requiem

Ophicius
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Synopsis
Humanity had always feared the Apocalypse foretold in sacred texts — but the end came with neither angels nor trumpets. Instead, black and white meteors rained down upon the Earth, wiping out millennia of progress in a matter of hours. The black stones brought corruption, mutation, and madness. Those who survived their fall became unstable beings, wielding chaotic powers — cast out by their kin, hunted like beasts. The white stones, by contrast, carried a pure energy, hoarded jealously by the ruling powers. Where the black stones struck, rifts tore open the very fabric of reality — unleashing creatures from beyond, nightmares given form. The old nations crumbled. From their ashes rose a new world order : the Earth Empire, ruled by a global government, upheld by a new, all-powerful Church preaching a blasphemous god. Thus began Year Zero After the Fall — the dawn of a world born from the Fall. And in this age of darkness… a man was born — a man driven by justice, and vengeance. __________________________________________ A/N: Please give your reviews and participation so I know I have real readers ! This is my first book so I'd like to be good at it for the next ones. __________________________________________ → Chapter Lenghts : 1.500 – 2.500 Words.
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Chapter 1 - Prologue I : The Fall of Humanity

For ages, mankind feared the end of the world as foretold in sacred texts.

Some awaited the trumpets of the Apocalypse, the clash of judgment brought by angels wielding flaming swords.

Others trembled at the fires of Mahapralaya, the destructive dance of Shiva.

Or the rise of the Four Horsemen, the return of the World Serpent, the stars falling from the heavens like divine tears.

But when the world truly ended, there were no horns, no gods.

But a deluge of meteors — black as sin, white as salvation — crashed into the earth without men being able to do someting.

They did not herald the Apocalypse — they were the Apocalypse.

Within hours, millennia of progress were turned to ash.

Cities collapsed, the countries have fallen — then entire continents.

And humanity, once more, was reminded of how fragile it truly was.

The Earth, long gangrened by pride, sin, and shamelessness, received him like divine punishment.

To the devout, he was the Hand of God. To others, a harbinger of the end.

The black meteors, bearers of corrupt energy, brought decay to everything they touched.

Forests rotted, oceans blackened, cities dimmed.

Because of the black meteorites human and animals mutated. Some died in excruciating agony.

Others rose anew, changed, awakened, bearers of supernatural gifts.

But these powers, however mighty, came at a tragic price—ostracized, hunted, hated, they became pariahs.

Cause their power is unstable. Those who touch a black meteorite are never the same, their flesh twists, their minds crack.

Corruption takes root in them, a poisoned seed sprouting slowly.

Yes, it gives them strength—but at the cost of their humanity.

However the white meteors, rare and coveted, emitted a pure energy—but none were without cost.

The white meteors, rare and inaccessible, crashed into zones now controlled by the great powers.

Their gifts were monopolized by governments.

Powers of "light", accessible only to the elite.

A new world was built around them.

There, people live longer, cleaner, better—and more false.

The black ones fell elsewhere. Into deserts, jungles, ruins of fallen nations.

But as if that wasn't enough...

Dimensional portals, ruptures in reality caused by the black meteors, allowed creatures called Cauchemar to invade the men world.

Though these are believed to be portals to hell, some claim to have seen gods and mythical creatures emerging from them.

But these are only legends. Today, humanity knows little about these rifts; they rarely appear around black stones — as if someone had decided.

But the world didn't explode. It rotted from the inside, like a tongue bitten until it bleeds—never truly torn out, just left to fester.

The great nations faded one by one—not through nuclear war, nor through a virus, but through the ugliness of mankind.

There was no more France, no America, no China—only Zones : Safe Zone,PurifiedZones and UnstableZones. The world was rebuilt from scratch by bloodstained hands.

England, master of industries and the last bastion of monarchy, collapsed when its dams were swallowed by the rising sea.

The United Arab Emirates, holder of incalculable wealth thanks to the black gold of the desert was reduced to extreme poverty when their reserves were exhausted, the apocalypse was as if to definitively end their reigns.

The United States, a technocratic superpower, fell beneath the weight of its own paranoia—its AIs deeming all human life a primary threat a crisis pushing citizens of the country but also those of the world to exceed their limits, equipping themselves with implants to fight for decades.

Other countries were quarantined, abandoned to degeneration, forgotten by the rest of the world.

The world descended into a new age of darkness.

As a solution to this global crisis, a global coalition emerged.

The World Government—a hybrid entity made up of former leaders, megacorporations, and religious orders—rose as the sole authority.

Its mission ? Manage the remaining resources, make the nations that have joined this global empire prosper by protecting each other, eliminate all threats—Awakened, mutants, heretics.

In other words, the enemies of the world order.

Under the banner of this world government, the Earth Empire or The Imperium was born.

A unique power built on the ruins of the countries that joined this coalition, these power became thekingdoms of this empire.

Yes — the kingdoms.

Humanity having lost the majority of this knowledge and its territory, made a great step backward whose humanity will come-back with difficulty.

Thus, for the empire, political systems dating from the Middle Ages were adopted and no more was heard of the Old World.

Behind the scenes, it became inseparably linked to the New Church, birthing a new world order guided by dogma, fear, and artificiel light.

The world today is divided between the Bastions of Light—technocratic theocratic fortresses under World Government control—and the No Man's Land, where the law of the strongest reigns.